The Department of Homeland Security sounded a bit like Cookie Monster or The Incredible Hulk in a press release Wednesdaydetailing how the agency has spent the roughly $1.67 billion allocated to it for fence and wall construction and renovation over the past 19 months.

“DHS is committed to building wall and building wall quickly,” the release read. “We are not replacing short, outdated and ineffective wall with similar wall. Instead, under this President we are building a wall that is 30-feet high.”

The Hulk is the new dhs press secretary: "DHS is committed to building wall and building wall quickly. We are not replacing short, outdated and ineffective wall with similar wall. Instead, under this President we are building a wall that is 30-feet high."https://t.co/BbZgkSbtDK

ICYMI: "DHS is committed to building wall and building wall quickly. We are not replacing short, outdated and ineffective wall with similar wall. Instead, under this President we are building a wall that is 30-feet high." Walls Work https://t.co/pCpzbzP5nq

A DHS spokesperson did not return a request for comment. Near the end of the release the agency takes a harsher tone, characterizing asylum-seekers and migrants who approached the U.S.-Mexico border wall recently as “a violent mob of 1,000 people” which “had become assaultive.” The migrants, including young children who happened to be nearby, were teargassed.

Matt Shuham (@mattshuham)
is a reporter in TPM’s New York office covering corruption, extremism and other beats. Prior to joining TPM, he was associate editor of The National Memo and an editorial intern at Rolling Stone.